A new dawn rising
by daisy10166
Summary: lord Voldemort is disappointed in his men, and that is why he has decided to test them to see who shall stay and who shall go, however this arises new dangers for Snape. Will he be able to keep his true allience a secret?
1. Chapter 2

Waiting outside the headmaster's office Severus had knocked three times before he was told to enter. However as he looked towards the sky he guessed it was now far past midnight, the meetings were lasting longer and longer.

"Ah, come in Severus," Dumbledore said cheerfully "sit down won't you?" The old man answered the door himself clad in a ruddy old nightshirt and his dark blue robes. Severus entered and took his usual seat opposite Dumbledore's desk.

"Headmaster I…" Dumbledore stopped him abruptly "Lemon drop?" A large glass jar full of candy was produced before him. Snape sighed "No thank you, I never take them and I never will." "Well then you must have a cup of tea..." Snape waited impatiently as the headmaster conjured up each new refreshment and then politely took it away before saying "Please Albus I have some news."

Dumbledore sobered up immediately "Of course."He sat down and looked intently at Snape. "Now the dark lord has proposed a test of some sort, I have told you of our resent failures?" Dumbledore nodded politely, "Well he suspects that some of the death eaters in his inner circle are no longer faithful to him."

"And is this true?" Severus looked thought full for a moment "There are some who would suggest that but I believe that he is simply panicking."

The room was eerily quiet as Severus explained all he knew, which wasn't much. The conversation only became serious when Snape finally mentioned what he had been meaning to say all along, "Albus he plans to kill anyone who doesn't pass."

Severus had expected a larger reaction but apparently ignoring his comment Dumbledore said softly "And when will this test take place?",Severus sighed "Tomorrow night I'm afraid, which is why I'm asking permission to take off tomorrow, to prepare myself."

"Of course my dear boy." Dumbledore smiled, it was a warm smile but a very tired one.

An awkward moment passed as the two sat in silence. Finally Dumbledore asked "Severus do you think you can do this?" Snape scowled and looked him in the eye "I have no choice." He said.

Dumbledore couldn't help but agree, he patted Severus' shoulder but this was the only real comfort he could give him. "Well then I wish you good luck." Snape nodded and left the room.

Dumbledore shook his head as watched him leave and only hoped he could prepare himself enough, for whatever this "test" may entail.

_Sorry, the original first chapter felt too weird so I switched it out with this one. (: _


	2. Chapter 3

He clung to the shadows on the way to the Great Hall, which wasn't very hard in the wee hours of the morning. Still a small relief washed over Snape as the smells of breakfast eventually met his nose; he had made it without being seen.

Grabbing a piece of toast and spooning a few fork full's of egg down his throat Snape disappeared from the empty Great Hall and slipped out the front doors unnoticed.

The cold winter air whipped the traveling cloak around his ankles as he walked to the shrieking shack, the agreed place where Snape would practice his spells and occlumency for that night. "Hello professor," Snape jumped at the small first years voice.

He turned around and snarled at the child who recoiled in return. "What are you doing out of bed?" he demanded. "Sir it's after 5: 30, I'm allowed to be out of bed." The 1st year boy visibly shock in his new winter boots.

"Don't let me catch you out here again."Snape said hurriedly, a rather lame threat seeing as it was after 5:30 and the boy had all the right but Snape wasn't concerned about this, it would be a disaster if any of the students he **was** teaching that day found out he wasn't sick.

Johnny, he would later find out his name, ran all the way back to the castle and never told a soul. 10 minutes later he reached the tree; a shower of snow fell off the whomping willow as Snape paralyzed it with ease, and then disappeared into the hole at its base.

A draft sent shivers down Snape's spine as he entered the hidden room but once he had closed all the windows and blocked the door it was quite a secluded and comfortable place to practice.

A part of Snape wanted very desperately to be sitting with the rest of the professors at breakfast, discussing the lesson plans for the day and engaging in small talk; something he could honestly say he had never desired until today, dreaded even, but he knew that there was no avoiding tonight.

Taking a deep breath Severus closed his eyes and blocked all existing thoughts from his mind, last night's meeting, his conversation with Dumbledore… which was one of the main reasons he didn't hear the giggling coming from outside…


	3. Chapter 4

Snape didn't notice their presence until one of the dunces tripped and he heard the loud thump as someone hit the side of the shrieking shack.

The kids outside burst into another fit of laughter as Snape suddenly alarmed parted the curtains and looked through the window.

The Weasley twins orange hair winked in the morning sun as the boys crept along to the other side of the shack.

How like those two to be out and about during class.

Snape had been in enough tough predicaments to keep from panicking. He knew he had about 2 minutes before the two boys found the hidden side entrance and would no doubt come up here to explore. With a quick side sweep of the room Snape assessed the best possible hiding places. Behind the sagging old couch in the corner?

No.

Behind the door

Unlikely

Just as Snape began to vaguely consider jumping out the window his trained eyes saw it, hidden by a dusty red curtain was a small closet. Snape heard the sound of feet and whispers and without a second thought swept himself into the closet and quietly closed the door.

The closet smelled of must and pine and Snape stepped in something wet as he crouched to the ground. Thank goodness it only turned out to be a leak in the roof… Almost as soon as Snape pushed himself into that closet the two Weasley boys showed up.

Snape watched with immense anger as they set about looking around the room and making themselves at home.

He only had so much time to practice before nightfall.

Severus gave an awful sneer alone in the dark closet, oh how they would pay in class next week. Suddenly in all his anger Snape's ear caught a part of the boy's conversation. "Hey, Fred did you bring a travelling cloak?"

With sudden realization Snape scanned the floor of the closet, his cloak was missing. "No,.. why?" Fred must have found Snapes cloak hanging on the handle of the door because Suddenly the room got very quite as the boys looked around for who ever was there with them.

Even after years of being a double agent he had never gotten used to that awful pang of panic when you knew you were about to be caught. However Snapes racing thoughts were stopped as something very sudden came about him.

"Ahh." Snape had to cover his mouth as he felt a burning sensation in his left arm.

"Hey Fred didya hear that?" But by then their voices were already fading as Snape had just instinctively grabbed his arm.

Later he thought he might have had the creak of the closet door open as he left but by then he was already in the in-between. Suddenly Snape felt his legs hit the ground and opening his eyes he saw he was standing in a vacant field.

But the games weren't supposed to start until tonight?


End file.
